If you are on facebook you can down load Dr Dresslers book for free, it has excellent information about the food we are feeding our dogs and how it relates to the increase of cancer in them at such an exorbitant rate . I consulted with Dr D quite often as well as the oncology teams at WCVM . Dr Dressler has great insight on the disease and really helped with Steffie's care ; after she was diagnosed with stage 4 TCC I actually manged to keep her weight maintained by cooking healthy low carb, nitrate free food for her that she liked to eat.

A study done in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine backs up the fact that canine cancer is now the number one cause of death in dogs.

Data from 74,556 dogs over 20 years (1984-2004) were analyzed. This data was archived for the National Cancer Foundation’s Veterinary Medical Database, and then surveyed. 27 veterinary hospitals across the country contributed.

There is no single cause for this. Certainly there are breed (genetic) issues at play. It could be that age of death is a factor. However, there is more to this picture.

Diet, lifestyle, and environmental issues are likely culprits. In immigrants coming into the US, their cancer rates end up matching that of the Americans. This combines with other research tells us that diet, lifestyle, and environmental issues are major culprits of cancer.

Here is an excerpt from the National Cancer Institute’s SEER program: “Between 1975 and 2003, a number of studies were published…Their conclusions have been remarkably uniform. The studies found that cancer incidence patterns among first-generation immigrants were nearly identical to those of their native country, but through subsequent generations, these patterns evolved to resemble those found in the United States. ”

This tells us that we should pay much more attention to diet, environmental issues, and lifestyle in our dogs. To learn much more about how to reduce your dog’s risk factors, see The Dog Cancer Survival Guide.

My shotzy has cancer now, she is a bonafide 18 going on 19 years old, has a tumor the size of a grapefruit on her side and it must be in her lung, when i take her outside she is mighty slow and starts bleeding from her mouth, but I keep her comfortable and give her pain pills and xanax, she just made another day, still eating good and has a sparkle in her eyes.
good luck